mechanics and functions of a smoke house - University of Delaware ...

and old scythes are selected examples. Combined with the undisputed proof
provided in the Dickinson and Maxwell entries concerning the store house
capacity of the smoke house in the off season, the repeating combinations
are highly provocative. (A selection of constellations from Kent County
inventories are provided in Appendix F).54
If one were to furnish a smoke house according to its original status,
one would need to include, (during the summer and fall months), items such
as are described in the inventories. If one were to furnish a smoke house
according strictly its use as a smoke house it would be proper to include
some of the utensils used in the curing process. In reading numerous
eighteenth and nineteenth century recipes, a long list of utensils employed
emerged. Appropriate utensils include; powdering tubs, harness tubs, tight
barrels, earthen, slate, lead, or wooden troughs (for salting), large pans,
pickling tubs (like powdering tubs), casks, and molasses hogs heads cut in
twO. 65
When in season the Dickinson Smoke House was active. Accounts,
receipts, contracts, and agreements left by Dickinson suggest that it was a
hub of activity. Among his papers one finds receipts for goods supplied by
tenants of the plantation. goods invaribly include pork, beef, or bacon.
For example in 1775, he pays tenant Robert Johnson for 127 pounds of pork
and pounds of beef. In 1 Johnson again supplies salt pork and hog's
fat Tenant Joseph Wheeler, in February of 1781, "pays" Dickinson 33 1/2
pounds of pork, 36 1/2 pounds of Ditto, and 30 pounds of Bacon per their
agreement 1793 sees tenant John Emory providing 92 1/2 pounds of bacon
and 1 barrel of Herrings to Mr. Dickinson. Besides the meat produced for the